Castle Rock State Park
Climb Review:
It had been a while since I had bouldered at Castle Rock. I couldn’t remember what the rock felt like, but when I jumped on the rock, it felt like coming home.
Arete (V0-, Dog Dish Boulders)—I had done this route a few years ago and when I went up this time, I could see that I had improved a lot. It felt so easy this time!
The Warm Up (V1, Dog Dish Boulders)—This was a fun traverse and I even remembered the beta about the low foot when going over the face. This route is a great intro to slopers.
Warm Up (V0, Mr Magoo)—This is one of my favorite routes and it was fun to go up and think about my journey as a boulderer. Two years ago, I struggled and fought on this route. This time, it was as easy as the ABCs.
Mantle (v1, Mr Magoo)—I sent this twice to show Cassie some strategies to try out. Then after she sent it, I saw the beta she used, got inspired, and then sent this route one-handed. So fun!
The Spoon (V2, The Spoon)—I had spied this route a few times before, so I wanted to give it a go, but man, it’s so scary at the top! I couldn’t even touch the top hold, but I do want to come back here with more pads, then really give it a proper go!
Waimea to Cave Traverse (V0-, Castle Rock Proper)—This is my favorite traverse at Castle Rock and it was fun introducing this route to Cassie.
What I Learned
I still need to fall more bouldering so that my fears about injuries could fade. At The Spoon and Waimea Wall (I jumped on the lower half to see how it’d feel), I couldn’t get the image of a twisted foot out of my head and it messed with my ability to dyno the big moves required on both of those routes.
I had a low shoulder muscle pull that was improving almost every day and I bouldered with it. While on the rock, the shoulder felt fine and the pain did not impede my climbing. The next day, however, the pain was back and it probably pushed my full recovery out by a week.
What Happened?
I canceled my gym membership as it is summer and I can get out to either here or Roadside Rock easily. And on this weeknight, Cassie and I felt like bouldering, so Castle Rock it was.
We arrived at a busy (for a weeknight) parking lot where it looked like there were hikers who were about to start an evening jaunt. For us, we shouldered our pads and hiked up to Castle Rock Proper.
We arrived with just a few other boulderers in sight and we got to get on every rock that we wanted to. My number one goal was to introduce Cassie to Mr Magoo and seeing her climb both Warm Up and Mantle was so fun!
We bouldered for about 2 hours before we called it a day and headed back down to our car. Ramona snaked down Highway 9 and we joined the weary office workers on the highway commute back home. I’m not sure about the others, but we were wearing big smiles.